One review calls this "outsider comics". That's a pretty good description. I loved this - the artwork and stories are so odd, yet compelling, and the post script in which Paul Karasik tries to track down the cartoonist is interesting. ( )

Fletcher Hanks was the most amazing artist who ever lived. From his secret drawing table, in a penthouse on the other side of the moon, he shot hypno-comic rays into thousands of speechless readers, lifted their bodies, suspended, into space where he flung them into the sun, faster than the speed of light, so that they came out the other side, cooler, and in yesterday. This is not to mention his tales of the Queen in Africa, and the giant panthers, and the bombs over New York. He surely would have busted crime too, if he had the time. "To be continued, in the next issue"...what a diabolical plan! Stardust! ( )

Very golden age, very weird. The epilogue really enhanced it. My favorite comics character is the Spectre, so the creatively gruesome fates of the villains weren't all that startling. He only had a couple basic ideas, but they were strong ones. ( )

"I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets!" is a collection of comics by Fletcher Hanks, a comic artist and writer who was one of the original creators of the art. I bought this at a used book sale because I really thought the title was great.

Not knowing what to expect, I skimmed through the book that was filled with what looked like to meet crude, yet beautiful art. I didn't read anything fully until I came to the end.

There is an afterword so to say about who is Fletcher Hanks and what happened to him. This is also is comic form and tells the story of Mr. Hanks and I believe reading this first made me appreciate him and the comics more.

As for the comics by Mr. Hanks, I really enjoyed them, especially the ones featuring his character "Stardust" who is so great and powerful and seems to have any ability that he needs at his disposal.